I'm a big fan of the show. Unfortunately, they have yet to use a period correct fountain pen in any of the desk/writing scenes. The ones I remember offhand include a Parker Vacumatic, a Parker Streamline Duofold junior, and an Esterbrook dollar pen.

Regards,
George

George;

are the models you list above ones you've seen used on BE, or examples of period-correct fountain pens?

I do not watch this series, but don't forget that during the 1920's there were a lot of pens like the Sheaffer's flat-tops out there. Also Waterman, conklin and many others. These were simple radite (plastic) pens, not the really fancy presentation or gift pens that we so often think about. Some of the pens would have been sac pens (button or lever-fillers, twist fillers, etc.), but there might also have been postal pens, bulb fillers, plunger-fillers, blow-fillers - you get the idea. Once you get into the 1920's, there had to be a lot of them out there.

Slightly off topic: it can be frustrating recognising fountain pen brands/models in films or TV series. But imagine if one of the characters actually identified it for the viewer. It happened!

I was watching a black/white film from 1931, "Friends and Lovers", where Erich von Stroheim's character was blackmailing Adolphe Menjou's to the tune of five thousand pounds. Von Stroheim handed Menjou a bank cheque then proffered a pen with the words:

"Extra stub, number seven - the kind you like."

I could scarcely believe my ears. I'm guessing it was a Waterman's with a broad ("extra") stub. Due to the black/white era it wasn't possible to confirm it as a red ripple but the chances are high.

Imagine if Nucky had been gracious enough to inform BE/FPN viewers what he was using...

In the 20s, fountain pens were more or less luxury items. Granted, there were cheap, user-grade pens around, but pens made by companies like Parker, Sheaffer, Waterman, Wahl-Eversharp, etc, were generally expensive and hard to buy for ordinary people.

If you owned such a pen, it was because it was GIVEN to you. It was a present. A promotional gift. An award. Or, you worked damn hard, saved up enough money, and bought it after hard slog.

For most big institutions and so-forth, and for most people, the dip-pen remained the norm. It was cheaper and easier to use. It saved money. Why spend $5 on a fountain pen when you can spend 10c. on a box of nibs and a wooden pen-shaft?

What is your source for this information, and is it specific to the United States?

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Hercule Poirot used a Vacumatic in an episode set in the postwar period. I suspect they used that pen because in the scene it was dropped to the floor and they probably didn't want to use a more expensive pen. Come to think of it, it's entirely possible that they used a stunt pen, so they'd have to have at least two of them.